Lost in Translation

In preparation for the blizzard that is supposed to hit Germany this weekend, all citizens were advised to get emergency goods (food, water, etc) to last for up to 4 days. This meant that I had to go out to the grocery store in 70km/hr winds with snow falling and get some food. In the process, however, I found an entire section of the store that was, quite simply, odd – and well filled with a series of Lost (gained?) in Translation moments. Luckily, I had my trusty camera phone so I can share with everyone a bit of a laugh.

Starting off – the chocolates – both are dark chocolate. One is written in German and translates to “Black Man chocolate”, the other English, but both seem to go to a different (perhaps more racist?) time:

Black Man's dark chocolateBlack Power ( leopard) chocolate

Then, there’s the alcohol… Some of these you’ll have to use your own imagination for. Others are rather laughable. Explanations below where I think necessary….

20 Year Fall of Berlin Wall Liquor

20 years of “wall fall” liquor. It’s got arty drawings on the front of the Berlin wall being crashed through by a Trabant – and 4 leaders celebrating on one side of the box. On the other, the same 4 leaders have quotes about their role in the Berlin wall. The bottles? The cartoon of the leader, and it says under them the role each played. Perhaps if someone can better translate this for me, it’d make more sense, but seriously? I don’t want to drink shots that have come from the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. It might just taste like the gas in that old Trabant…..

6 "bum" packs of vodka

Now I don’t know about you, but really – Any Vodka that proudly proclaims they’re “the Bum Pocket drink” must taste like ASS. Don’t think I wanna try it. Thank you, but No thank you….

Viagra and Crossing Man liquor

Let’s see… this one has Viagra Blue (with words around it like recipes included, Good, Fun, Helps, Men) and the famed “ampel man” of East Berlin (the cross walk guy) with his “red” for “don’t walk” and “green” for walk liquors. These are sitting RIGHT NEXT to each other in the store. Are the store people trying to hint something about the crossing guard man? Things that make you go hum….

Finally, Unicum herbal liquor next to the goldwasser (gold water) liquor. Let’s just say that if you put your mind in the gutter, you really don’t want to go there….

Unicum liquor

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Rose and the Rainbow Gloves

Sometimes you just need something to brighten your day. It’s cold, gray, dreary and miserable outside. It kind of matches how I’m feeling inside today – but when I got up, I saw my “rainbow” gloves sitting in my wardrobe. I couldn’t resist how happy they made me feel – and promptly decided yep, I’m adding a little rainbow to my day….

Rainbow gloves

PS. J says they’re gay. I think he’s just jealous…

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09.09.09 09:09:09

2009-09-09_090909

According to Yahoo News This is why 9-9-2009 is so special to numerologists and also in Chinese Culture:

As part of his obsession with numbers both mathematically and divine, and like many mathematicians before and since, Pythagoras noted that nine in particular had many unique properties.

Any grade-schooler could tell you, for example, that the sum of the two-digits resulting from nine multiplied by any other single-digit number will equal nine. So 9×3=27, and 2+7=9.

Multiply nine by any two, three or four-digit number and the sums of those will also break down to nine. For example: 9×62 = 558; 5+5+8=18; 1+8=9.

Sept. 9 also happens to be the 252nd day of the year (2 + 5 +2)…

The article then goes on to say:

The Chinese pulled out all the stops to celebrate their lucky number eight during last year’s Summer Olympics, ringing the games in at 8 p.m. on 08/08/08. What many might not realize is that nine comes in second on their list of auspicious digits and is associated with long life, due to how similar its pronunciation is to the local word for long-lasting (eight sounds like wealth).

Historically, ancient Chinese emperors associated themselves closely with the number nine, which appeared prominently in architecture and royal dress, often in the form of nine fearsome dragons. The imperial dynasties were so convinced of the power of the number nine that the palace complex at Beijing’s Forbidden City is rumored to have been built with 9,999 rooms.

So, I guess what makes my day special is that I not only managed to get one photograph – of my computer screen at 9/9/9 9:09:09 – but one of my desk clock as well:

09.09.09 at 09:09 am

And.. since the next set of repeating dates will not be until next year (10/10/10 at 10:10) – it just makes it that much more fun.
How cool is that?

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